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"The Debt"

The trailer for The Debt made the film look interesting, if not a bit vague. However, the movie ended up being one of the best action films I have seen in quite a while, probably due to its spectacular cast.

It has been 30 years since Rachel Singer (Helen Mirren, "Arthur") returned from her mission to kill the Surgeon of Birkenau, who committed unspeakable acts on Jews during World War II. Her daughter (Romi Aboulafia, "Breaking and Entering") has written a book about it, and they and her ex-husband, Stephan (Tom Wilkinson, "The Green Hornet") are reunited at a party celebrating it. When something tragic happens to the third member of the mission, David (Ciarán Hinds, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2), they must confront a secret that they have kept buried for the past 30 years, that may affect them now in the present-day.

In flashbacks, we see young Rachel (Jessica Chastain, "The Help"), an Israeli intelligence officer who joins young Stephan (Marton Csokas, "South Solitary") and David (Sam Worthington, "Avatar") as they seek to kidnap the Surgeon of Birkenau (Jesper Christensen, "A Family") so that he can be put on trial for his crimes against humanity. Complications abound, however, and the three agents slowly begin to mentally deteriorate as they are each put on shifts to watch the Surgeon, so that he does not escape.

Yes, definitely see this movie. It's always tricky when there are two actors playing one person (ie, Helen Mirren as older Rachel and Jessica Chastain as her younger self), but each pair nails it perfectly. The film is action-packed and tells an interesting story, although it does run a bit long (my only complaint about it), and there is a twist about midway through that audiences will not see coming. Chastain (fresh off The Help), Mirren, and occasionally Worthington steal the show here, and they interact well with the ensemble cast. The Debt is one of the better movies of 2011 so far, and it is one that should most certainly be seen in theaters.

The Debt is in theaters today, August 31st, and is rated R with a runtime of 114 minutes.

So we've all been there ... that time when you're on an important phone call, and then the call drops. Or even when you need to use the internet on your smartphone, only to realize that you're at your data limit for the month.

I drive all over the metro Detroit area for movie screenings; because of this, most of the time I know where I'm going, but sometimes, I'm in an unfamiliar area or at an unfamiliar theater and I need GPS to know how to get there and back.

A few months ago, I was headed to the AMC Forum (Sterling Heights area) and I wanted to know the best way to get home from there. My phone kept stalling ... and stalling ... and then the Maps app crashed! Gah! I was extremely frustrated. I was finally able to re-start the phone and get safely home, but it TOOK. SO. LONG. Had the Maps app worked the fir…

*Disclosure: This is a sponsored post. The opinions expressed here, however, are my own. As long-time readers of this blog surely know, I travel quite a lot. A few years ago, I only took about 2-3 trips per year, not including trips in the state of Michigan (Grand Haven weekends, etc.), but this past year, I was fortunate in that I was able to travel very frequently.

I recently heard about a new travel site, DirectHotels.com, which is similar to Kayak.com, in that it searches all of the other travel sites (Orbitz, Expedia, etc.) to find the best deals for you. I gave it a bit of a test run to see if that is indeed true.

About the site:
DirectHotels.com is a new hotel comparison tool that challenges the big brands. Travelers can easily compare all the travel sites in one place to find the cheapest hotel. DirectHotels.com compares over 200 bookings sites, so users can be sure about its accuracy. Using DirectHotels.com means that you will never overpay.

I've written these past two years about Bookstock, a huge used book & media sale that takes place at Laurel Park Place, in Livonia, and it's returning again this year, from Sunday, 4/22 through Sunday, 4/29.Read more about the event over at my book blog! I was finally able to check it out last year, and they had a large mix of books and media (including DVDs, Blu-rays, and records).To learn more about Bookstock, click hereto visit my book blog, or visit their official site here.